Spraying Poly Outside in Winter, drying indoors
Hi all,
Where I live now it’s fairly cold (between 45-55 or so). I have an idea I hope might work for finishing a project that I’d like to know if it’ll work.
I’ll be spraying poly (haven’t decided yet whether oil or water based). I was thinking I could take the piece and my sprayer outside, spray a coat, then bring the piece and sprayer in to an isolated room indoors (the room has heat and windows and the smell won’t reach the rest of the house). Let it dry in there a few hours, then bring back outside and repeat.
Would there be any issues doing the actual spraying outdoors while it’s 45-55ish degrees out? Or if so, at those temps would it be ok to let it sit outside for an hour or so until it’s dry to the touch, then let it finish drying indoors? I don’t want to screw up the finish but I have nowhere I could spray indoors unfortunately.
thanks in advance!
Replies
I do this in the winter but only with small projects that are quick to spray.
I use rattle can oil-based poly in our (unheated) garage. Spraying a coat never takes more than a couple minutes, then I retreat to the house with both the project and the rattle can.
I've never had a problem with it.
I haven't tried letting it remain outside for an hour. I suppose that would depend on just how cold it is. In January and February, my garage can sometimes be below zero (Fahrenheit).
Mike
Thanks for the info - sounds like this might work out for me! I may test spray a scrap piece and leave it out for an hour to see if that messes things up. I do know that colder temps = much slower drying/curing but I’m unsure if it’ll have a negative effect on the finish itself.
I have sprayed outside water based poly in 45-50 degrees weather lately without even bringing the parts inside. No problem.
Thanks for the feedback, that is good to know! From what I’ve read, I think water based poly is actually more sensitive to colder temps than oil based, so sounds like either choice will be ok.
I have done it in much colder temperatures, actually anything above freezing has never caused a problem either with glueing or finishing but I try to keep it above 40 degrees to keep a safety margin.
I have sprayed both water and oil based paints, varnish, and lacquer outside in colder temperatures. I have no experience with water based poly, I don't use either kind.
My belief is that oil based products are probably more tolerant of low temperatures. I generally leave my pieces outside for the first couple of coats, as I can deal with dust, etc. on the early coats. I have sprayed lacquer outdoors below 40 with no problems, but not in high humidity conditions. .
Thanks for your experience! Good to know it’ll work out. I am wondering though how the cold affected the drying times for you? Maybe not including the lacquer as I’m pretty sure I’ve read that lacquer is uniquely unaffected by the cold… but for the other oil based stuff you sprayed, did you have any issues with drying in those low temps?
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